Mea Culpa
by Jhueko
Summary: College life is very extraordinary when it comes to being bored and having too much free time and too much coffee. Sasuke's birthday comes, and it's great until the next morning. SasuNaru
1. Festivites

A loud, annoyed grumble emerged from the lips of a young male, who was laying on his stomach on a black couch with his face buried into a pillow. He pulled one of the thin white sheets over his head, curling up with his knees brought to his chest.

The doorbell to his apartment rang, sending an annoying ringing echoing through the whole apartment, bouncing off the walls and ringing around in his ears. It took two whole minutes of three more rings before he got up, trudged to the door, and opened it, the sliding lock keeping it from fully opening.

Onyx, sleepy eyes met with bouncy, happy, cerulean ones. The man inside the cool, air conditioned apartment just sighed, slamming the door back in the face of the happy-looking blue eyes.

"Sasuke-kun! Open this door now, damn it!" the slightly younger male screamed at the top of his lungs, pounding on the door with balled fists. A couple people peeked out of their own apartment doors to see what commotion was going on.

Sighing, the black-haired boy–with slight tints of blue to that hair, actually–finally unlatched the top, sliding lock, opening the door. The blonde-haired one outside nearly pounced on him, but the one named Sasuke took a step to the side, causing the blonde to land on his head and roll on his side. Sasuke just closed the door, locking it again, before walking back over to the couch, laying back down and burring his head yet again into the plush, comfortable pillow.

"That was really mean, you know..."

"I don't care," he muttered, his voice getting nearly completely lost into the pillow.

"Tch..." The blonde jumped onto the other male's back, crossing his legs and pushing his hand against the back of the black and navy hair. "Why are you always such an ass to me?"

"Naruto, get off me!" the other man suddenly yelled, lifting his head and turning slightly so that the blonde fell and hit his head on the table. He sighed, watching his 'friend' fall and land, then painfully scream and rub his head.

"You're such an ass..."

"Then why do you keep persisting to annoy me, Naruto?"

The blonde male stopped, taking on a stereotypical thinking posture with one finger right under his bottom lip, both lips slightly separated and eyes cast upward. He grinned his stupid grin, looking back to Sasuke. "Hell if I know. I just do... Come on, Sasuke-kuuuuun,"

"What do you want from me?"

"Let's go to the fair," he said, bouncing up and jumping up and down, up and down, up and down over and over in place.

"We have finals next week..." the agitated one noted, sitting up and rubbing his head. He hadn't had a good night sleep and was trying to catch a nap. He'd barely laid down when Naruto had suddenly come to annoy him to death.

"That's next week, and you can study later... Please, Sasuke? We never do anything fun together any more... It's been like that for the past three years ever since we got here..."

"College isn't the place where you just joke around and skip classes that you don't like... How the hell did you ever get here?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you didn't get smarter than me, of course." Sticking his tongue out, the blonde stretched his arms over his head, hiding the six, whisker-like marks–three on either side of each cheek. Bringing his arms back down, he grabbed Sasuke's wrist. "Please?"

"No..."

"I'm paying though!"

"No."

"Sakura will be there!"

"No!" he yelled, dreading the thought of Sakura being there all day long, trying to get him to ride some ride alone with her. That bubble gum-haired girl didn't seem to get it.

Naruto frowned. "Actually... she won't be there... I lied, hoping it would help..." He sighed, turning around, but not before pretending to give a wounded, defeated look. "I don't get why you refuse to just have one day of fun with me... You're always studying so much... You'll die of a brain cramp some day..."

"That's not really possible..."

"Gah, whatever... You're such an ass sometimes."

"You've told me that already today. Thrice."

"Well you are... Why can't you just have fun, huh? Like normal people?" Crossing his arms, he turned back to glare at the onyx-eyed male, frowning deeply.

"Why can't you calm down like normal people?"

"Tch, whatever..." He rolled his eyes, biting into his lower lip, tapping his sandal-clad foot. The sandal was a black color, matching the swirl design on his orange t-shirt, the shirt perfectly matching shorts that went to around his knees. The perfect time of year for the clothes, too; it was nearly ninety degrees outside, and there was barely a five mile-an-hour breeze, though it didn't feel sticky and gross like some days. It never did because of their geographical location of the entire community. It was a choice community, really.

He stared down at the other male for a minute, their black and blue eyes locking, glaring into each other's. Sasuke just stood up, walking towards his room and slamming the door.

Naruto blinked, following Sasuke with his eyes, before sitting down on the couch and sighing, staring at his reflection in the blank, black television screen. "Stupid Sasuke and his inability to just have some fun or acknowledge anything but his stupid ego..."

Ten minutes went by of the blonde brooding and glaring at his own reflection, then Sasuke's door opened, revealing the boy to be wearing white knee-length shorts and a sleeveless white shirt, feet clad in sandals slightly similar to Naruto's, only his were white. On the back of his shirt, there was Japanese-style-like fan, the top half red with an up-curved mark in the middle, the rest white with a thin black outline around the whole thing.

Though he was a bit hesitant about it, he stepped from the hallway and sat on the couch, a few inches away from Naruto, leaning back. The blonde grinned, looking at him.

"You look good in white," he teased, poking him in the arm. "Can we go now?"

"Eh... Whatever... As long as Sakura isn't going."

"Then come on!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping up, grabbing Sasuke's wrist and urging him towards the door. Sasuke, grabbing a small ring with a set of five keys and pocketing it, just allowed himself to be dragged out of his apartment. Though, he stopped Naruto to lock it.

The second Sasuke had the keys pack in his pocket, Naruto pulled him to the stairs, practically dragged him down them, and starting towards Sasuke's black, sleek Convertible.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow, seeing that his car was the only one in the lot. "You walked here?"

"It was only a couple miles and I didn't feel like taking the bus," he said, smiling at him. The hood went down when Sasuke unlocked the car and inserted the keys, allowing Naruto to jump in without the use of the door–as he so-often did.

"Idiot. You shouldn't walk that far."

"Why? Worried I'd get kidnaped and that something would happen to me, Sasuke-kuuuuun?"

Rolling his eyes–though choosing not to answer, so as not to really have to lie flat out to the blonde–Sasuke revved the car, pulling it out of the lot and heading down the slightly-crowded street. He already knew where the carnival was set up, though it was more like a humongous fair.

Pulling into the parking grounds, he quickly found a spot without the aid of some stupid orange-vested random person that always insisted on taking care of cars. He kept the hood open as the two went out, his keys hidden and tucked under a part of his seat that was completely unnoticeable to anyone just seeing the car; he figured that some of the rides Naruto would force him to go on gave him a chance of the keys falling out.

Sasuke, with his blonde friend leading him anywhere–and everywhere–ended up accepting a vanilla ice cream cone from Naruto, with the blonde licking at his own, as the wandered through the festivities, Naruto not letting up on asking him what he wanted to do first, and Sasuke not letting up on replying with a statement that the other should choose.

The two finished their ice creams just in time for Naruto to declare that they should go on the Ferris Wheel. Sasuke, not really caring one way or another–at some point, if he refused then, Naruto would have, he was sure, got him onto it anyway–agreed, accompanying Naruto into one of the carts and having the door shut after he entered. He seated himself across from Naruto, watching the blonde look around as they moved a bit, to allow someone else to get on. He'd seen how large the particular Ferris Wheel they were on was, and knew they went extremely high into the air.

'Tch, hope you're not afraid of heights, Naruto; I sure as hell am not going to hold you and get you down and shit.'

Soon, all the carts that were going to be loaded with someone or another were, and by that time, Naruto and Sasuke's cart was halfway to the top. Sasuke figured them to be at least a hundred feet up in the air or so, and by the time they were to the top, they were two hundred feet in the air. The blonde looked through the holes in the safely-locked cart door, looking down on absolutely everything, grinning.

"Yeah, heh. This is awesome! Everything looks so tiny from way up here..." he breathed, eyes inspecting everything. The wheel moved, and a few minutes later they were, indeed, at the two-hundred foot mark, staring down at everything below them. Naruto did twitch a little bit, but was still grinning at the sight. "Hahah! Everything looks even smaller! Man, how high do you think we are?"

"At least two hundred feet," Sasuke stated simply, staring from Naruto to the scene below. It did provide a nice view of the scenery of the lush forest that laid beyond the fairgrounds.

Naruto sat down, finally, making the cart shake. When he realized it would shake around at his movements, he stared with a sly grin at Sasuke, and started jumping up and down, bending his head down a bit so as not to hit his head, shaking the cart around.

"You idiot, stop that!" Sasuke growled, grabbing onto the side of the cart, not willing to fall out of his seat. "You'll flip us over, idiot."

Naruto sighed, sitting back down, holding onto the side as the cart gradually stopped shaking. "Killjoy..." he muttered, breaking out a pouting face.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes.

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Tilting his head slightly to the side, Sasuke watched as Naruto climbed into a cart of a roller coaster and signaled for his black-haired friend to follow. Sasuke, though carefully, sat next to the blonde in the seat, the bar to go against their lap securing down.

As more people filled in the rest of the coaster's cars behind them, Sasuke attempted to inspect the ride, but noticed the entire thing was a large, inside-built one, and the inside showing was black at the time. Naruto was practically bouncing in place, even though the bar on his shoulders to his lap was holding him down. Sasuke figured he was glad of his, or Naruto would suddenly probably stand up and exclaim his joy of being on the ride, only to hit his head and get knocked out and fall out of the ride and get run over. Or something.

All through the ride, Naruto was screaming for joy, and Sasuke just occasionally flinched once in awhile. The ride had a large number of downhill falls along with spirals. The walls lit up just as you were in front of them, and you'd get so close you'd feel like you were going to crash into them, would have been how Sasuke might have explained it. Or maybe Naruto would have in such a manner.

When they stepped off the ride, Naruto dragged Sasuke to a funnel cake booth, and got a sugar- and cinnamon-coated one, getting the man serving it to cut it in half. He sat down, literally pulling Sasuke next to him, and started snacking on the fatty treat. Though Sasuke was a bit hesitant of the food–sugar and cinnamon all at once was sure to taste really sweet, and he didn't particularly like sweet things–he was forced to when Naruto pushed one into his mouth. And, just to get Naruto to stop stuffing the thing down his throat, he ate most of his half, insisting Naruto finish the rest. It was a bit better when Naruto bought them lemonade, and his was quite bitter instead of too sugary.

Sipping from a clear straw, Sasuke watched Naruto try his hand at some gypsy games, all of which he lost at, though when they came to one where you had to get a small hoop around a bottle top to win a large stuffed animal, Naruto refused to stop until he got it. Finally, Sasuke–finishing his lemonade first and disposing of it–grabbed one of the rings, inspecting the thing closely, and throwing it to the middle. It bounced off–stupid gypsy games with magnets hidden–but landed perfectly around one of the outside bottles' tops.

The manager wasn't exactly sure how Sasuke had done it, but when the male said Naruto could have whatever prize he want, the blonde boy grinned, deciding on a large, multi-tailed red fox stuffed animal, almost as large as he was. They had to make a trip back to the car to put it in the trunk so they could actually walk. Naruto tried his hand at a couple other gypsy games, but failed them all, and finally begged Sasuke to do one where he could win a random prize from some weird, huge machine.

The game was pretty weird, and Sasuke at first rejected it, but Naruto didn't allow him to. He finally gave in, though, when the blonde threatened to pour his still-filled large cup of extremely sugary lemonade down his throat one way or another.

Sasuke stepped up on a pedestal, as told by the instructor of the game, and took the wooden stick-like excuse for a sword in his left hand. The man told him that it was supposed to be held in his right hand, but Sasuke just pushed him away with the tip. Another person came up, who seemed to be all too eager to win some random, probably-crap prize.

"The first person to fall off their pedestal loses," the man announced, and a light bell rang. "Begin,"

The second the man said 'begin', Sasuke just threw the stick-like weapon at the other person, who was so surprised by it he fell off and landed on his head, looking dumbfounded.

"Erm, I guess, uh, you win..." the man muttered, staring with a slightly confused look. That was definitely something that no one else had done before.

"Naruto, get whatever prize it is and come on..." he said, stepping off the foot-high pedestal and starting to walk away. The man pressed a button on his machine, and a black box dropped down, a silver cord keeping it closed. Naruto, taking it, didn't take the time to look at it before sliding it into his right pocket and chasing after Sasuke.

"What did you get?"

"A box,"

"That's it?" He arched up his left brow, staring over his shoulder at the blonde.

"Heh, I haven't opened it yet, genius," he said, sticking out his tongue. "What do you want to do next?"

"I don't care..." He looked at a clock on a nearby wall. "It's nearly five."

"We still have some time, Sasuke-kun, come on! Let's go ride on... Hmn..." He looked around at the choices of rides, unable to decide what to ride on.

After walking around a bit, Sasuke sighed. "Only one more ride, then we should go get dinner... Or, better yet, I take you home and go back to sleep..."

"Tch... I'll take you somewhere to eat. Oh, oh, let's ride this one!" Naruto said, pointing to a large, under-ground ride with personal cars that separated. He hopped into the front cart, Sasuke sitting next to him, and looked around, interested. Sasuke noticed the seat-belt like things, and quickly buckled his, then leaned over, since the blonde didn't pay much attention, and buckled Naruto's.

"Whoo!" the blonde yelled as the cart started going and sped up. Sasuke wondered how fast they were going before he just decided to not care, leaning back and enjoying the ride. It was quite airy and smelled alright, not too sweet and not putrid like one of the earlier rides Naruto forced him on after the Ferris Wheel one. Around them, the caverns were beautiful; glistening crystals under water that was barely an inch below the track the cart was going on. The walls were perfectly smooth to the touch, but still glistening beautifully of gems and jewels.

"It's so gorgeous, you have to admit, Sasuke-kun!"

Smirking, the black-haired male just shrugged, watching his friend for a moment before inspecting the jewels again. "Whatever,"

The end of the ride came, the cart slowing to a halt, and the two hopped out and started towards Sasuke's car. Naruto kept talking about how worthwhile that last ride had definitely had been, while Sasuke just revved the car and concentrated on driving. Naruto told him to pull up to a restaurant not that far from there, and even though Sasuke felt more like knocking his blonde friend out and going to sleep somewhere, he just did what the blonde seemed so badly to want him to.

When they walked in, Naruto talked to some young woman, telling her something, then proceeded to pull Sasuke along to a table that had already been set and had a tiny sign saying 'Reserved, party 7' on it. The woman, taking away the tiny sign and sliding it into her apron's pocket, told them she'd come back with the drinks they'd ordered; Sasuke ice water, Naruto a lemonade with extra sugar.

"Haven't you had enough sweet things for the day?"

"I don't get how you can't like that stuff, Sasuke-kun," Naruto muttered, crossing his arms on the table, smiling at the ebony-eyed friend of his. "But whatever..."

Five or so minutes later, the waitress came back, setting down their drinks and whispering something into Naruto's ear. He nodded, then looked at Sasuke. "Hold on; I'll be back. Apparently someone's calling for me."

"Why don't they call your cell phone?"

The blonde blinked, then shook his head as an excuse. "Left it at home, it seems."

The blonde walked away, leaving Sasuke to sip at his ice water from the glass. Another five minutes passed, and when he heard footsteps, he just ignored them. Though, when suddenly a familiar pink-haired girl sat down across from him, a white-haired man sitting next to her and the blonde finally taking his seat next to Sasuke, grabbing his drink from the other side, he gave a confused look.

"Heheh," Naruto grinned, laughing a bit. A large, white cake was set out on the table in front of the four of them, on it in navy letters was 'Happy Birthday, Sasuke' The similar, pink-pong-paddle shaped mark, red on the top and white on the bottom, outlined with a thin line in back, was in the middle of the cake. The letters were over it, and Sasuke's name was under it.

Sasuke stared at it for a minute, then sighed.

"Happy birthday, by the way." Naruto said, poking him in the shoulder.

"Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun!" the bubble-gum-haired girl said, grinning.

"What they said," the fourth of the group said, leaning back and burring his nose into a orange-red book called 'Icha Icha Paradise'.

"Naruto–"

"I'm not going to let you leave, either."

"I can't believe this," he said, sighing, hiding his face in one hand. "Even our teacher?"

"We've known Kakashi-sensei since, like, forever! He hasn't seen us in so long... But, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hmn?" The white-haired man looked up from his book.

"How long does it really take you to read one book? It's been five years already."

He sighed. "There's more than just one book in a series, Naruto..."

"Idiot," Sasuke muttered, then looked over at Sakura, who grinned up at him.

The waitress woman set down a large knife that they could use to cut the cake, along with another utensil they could use to easily slide the cake slices from the dish it was on onto the plates, then scurried off to get drinks for the other two that were now there.

"Naruto, I still can't believe you actually did all this for Sasuke-kun."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto said, looking a bit agitated. He figured she meant that she was surprised Naruto had actually planned something. But it would be a point, and a first.

"Don't get touchy; I mean, I'm glad you did this for Sasuke-kun."

"Yeah, heheh." He smirked, then handed the knife and other weird, pizza and cake-slice shaped metal thing to Sasuke. "Your birthday; you have to cut the cake."

"You do it," Sasuke said, pushing the metal objects back into the blonde's hands.

"Aw, but you have to, Sasuke-kuuuuun!"

"Says who?"

"Says me." he said, half glaring at him. "Or else..."

"Or else?"

He reached for his glass of lemonade and held it dangerously tipped above Sasuke's head, smirking.

Sasuke grumbled, taking back the metal objects and starting to cut the cake and divide it amongst the four of them. Naruto, grinning at his own victory, dug straight into his when it was set, as did the other two, but Sasuke just took his time poking at it, then decided to taste it. Sweet stuff annoyed him.

Though, with Naruto shoving sweet things down his throat all day, it started tasting all right.

He assured himself that the acceptance of anything sweet would be short-lasting for just that night.

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Alright, let's talk about some things.

First–this is NOT going along the storyline. At all. They aren't even ninjas here, so deal with it. 'Cause we all know ninjas are awesome and all, but I already have one where they're ninjas. So, this one is yet another college-aged-NaruSasu fanfic that we all know and love. Or, rather, you better. If not, I don't want you evil-hating-thingies spamming up my reviews board with 'YOUBITCHTAKETHATCRAPOFF' 'cause I'll reply with 'SHUTTHEFUCKUPYOUMOH-RAHN!' 'Cause, I can. 'Cause, its my story. Deal. Good? Good. D

Second–The characters, as always, might seem a little out of character (OoC), but deal with it a bit, alright? I mean, seriously; this is my fic, and, plus, its not going along the original storyline, so I could have them all suddenly love each other to death or have Sasuke in a dress. Erm, that's not a bad idea... Anyway, whatever. I'll update soon. It depends on what update order I decide upon. 'Kaybye.


	2. Regret

Black eyes shifted slightly from the road to stare at the blonde male sleeping in the passenger seat nearby, then fixated where the road was. He'd forgotten to ask where the blonde lived, and since he didn't know, there wasn't exactly a way he could take his friend home. He licked his lips, finding a bit of taste still on them from the cake from earlier.

Pulling into the parking lot of the apartment complex's building he lived in, Sasuke quietly got out of the car, walked over to Naruto's side, and picked him up on his back, a little annoyed that doing so didn't wake the blonde up, since he didn't really feel like taking his friend up the stairs, and the elevator had been broken forever.

By the time Sasuke had gotten Naruto up the stairs and laid him down on the couch, he'd gotten tired, and just sat down on the couch, moving Naruto's head a bit. Gently, he started poking his friend's shoulder, having nothing else to do at the time, since sleep was out of the question.

"Wake up,"

"It's too early to be alive..." he muttered, finding Sasuke's leg with one hand and nuzzling his face into it.

"Come on, damn it... Naruto!"

"What?" Staring up, Naruto looked a bit agitated. "Why... did you wake me up... Eh?" He stared around.

"I'm not going to let you just sleep on my couch, idiot." Sasuke smirked.

"Oh, we're home?"

"My house,"

"I have to get going home..." he said, sitting up and stretching, yawning.

"It's really late," Sasuke pointed out, crossing his arms and leaning back, kicking off his sandals to a random dark corner of the living room that split into a kitchen to his left. "You should stay the night."

"I can't; I have to get home... There's a bunch of stuff I have to do for tomorrow. Besides, I thought you said I couldn't sleep on your couch."

"You can't; you could sleep on the bed, though. The couch is mine," He gave a little fake half growl, hugging the arm of his couch and glaring at Naruto, then sighed, straightening up. "Whatever it is, I'm sure we can just go get it in the morning..."

"No; has to be done tonight, sorry Sasuke-kun... Sorry that you'll miss me so much." He laughed a bit, jumping up and starting for the door. He looked back. "Hey, did you have fun at least today?"

Sasuke smirked. "Somewhat,"

"You're insane, you know that, you crazy Uchiha boy!"

"Uzumaki,"

"What?" He'd turned to face the door, but quickly wheeled around on his left heel, only to be met with a pillow to his face. "Damn it, Sasuke, you ass!" He threw the pillow back, though missed terribly, knocking over a stack of books near the couch.

"Hah... I've always had better aim than you." Sasuke stood, walking over to the door. "You really should just stay. It's really late,"

"I don't care. I have stuff I have to get done. Goodnight, Sasuke-kuuuuun!" He turned, not letting Sasuke stop him, and ran out the door. The ebony-eyed male just watched his friend leave down the hallway, then closed the door, locking it after him.

He walked over to his window, knowing the way Naruto always left when leaving his house. And, as if on cue, sure enough, the familiar blonde-haired idiot ran out of the building, running down the sidewalk, before slowing, just walking. The sidewalk, however, wasn't divided differently from the road.

Sasuke nearly screamed when he saw a black, sleek car–similar to his own when the hood was drawn–swerve, hit his blonde friend, and drive off, at what seemed double the speed it'd hit Naruto at.

He ran to his phone, grabbing up the wireless receiver and staring at it for a second. He'd gotten suddenly very dizzy, and the phone looked like a bunch of gray swirls to him. He pressed the digits Nine-Nine-One in order, having to feel where the buttons were instead of seeing them. He ran back to the patio, forcing the door open, staring at his friend. Some woman on the other end was asking what the problem was. His voice was so shaky, it wasn't a wonder the woman asked him to calmly repeat it.

"M-my friend's been h-hit by a car,"

"Is the driver still there?"

"No," he muttered, away from the patio and pulling on his sandals as he hopped down the stairs. He was glad his phone worked from so far away from the thing it charged on.

"What is the address, sir?"

He couldn't recall; his brain wasn't working right. "I don't know, but its right off the corner of... I think... I don't know,"

"Alright, well, we should have the address here. Ah, yes. Alright, we will be there shortly. Now, stay on the phone with one of our paramedics; I'll transfer you now."

A few seconds later, as Sasuke was just kneeling beside his unconscious friend–who was in a small ball under a tree–another young woman answered.

"Hello?"

"Y-yeah?" Sasuke stuttered, holding the phone between his ear and shoulder, inspecting Naruto's vitals. A huge wave of relief flooded through his body when he felt Naruto's pulse there, though it wasn't exactly at the speed he knew it should have been.

"Sasuke-kun?" The voice was very familiar.

"Sakura! Naruto's–"

"I know, Sasuke-kun. Alright, first, check Naruto's pulse."

"I just did. It's faint,"

"Alright, see if he's breathing."

Gently rolling Naruto onto his back, Sasuke pressed his ears above Naruto's mouth. He didn't feel anything that would have felt like breathing against his ear, so he pulled up the blonde's shirt, ear against the other male's chest. He didn't feel the boy's chest rising up and down, which would have explained why his pulse had been decreasing.

"No,"

"Alright, the ambulance should be there in a few seconds. Feel his head; is he hot?"

"N-no, he's cold and sweaty," Sasuke said, his left hand moving up and pressing the back against the other's forehead, moving shadowed golden locks out of the way. "The ambulance is here now, Sakura. I'm going with them but my phone won't go that far."

"Alright... I'll meet you at the hospital." The phones both clicked off at the same time. As Sasuke had said, the ambulance had arrived, and the men there were picking up the blonde on a stretcher and sliding it into the vehicle. At first, they rejected Sasuke's coming, but he insisted, saying that he had to, even though he couldn't come up with a reason why. They did allow it, however.

He wasn't surprised how short a time it took them to get to the hospital; they were allowed to run red lights and cars had to get out of the way of the red and white vehicle with a siren and flashing lights. He followed the men as they took Naruto to the emergency room, where a blonde-haired woman–though her hair was a dull blonde, very unlike Naruto's bright, vibrant, golden hair–stood, ready to inspect the other blonde.

Sasuke was told to take a seat in the waiting room by the woman, who'd introduced herself quickly to him as Tsunade. He agreed, not really wanting to see his friend get inspected down to the last bit of flesh by the woman. He sat down next to the bubble-gum-haired girl, neither of them being surprised to see the other.

"I had to take off,"

"Thanks..." He buried his face against his palms, resting his elbows against his knees as he tried to calm down, angry at himself for not insisting further for Naruto to stay. "If I hadn't let him leave my house, this wouldn't have happened, you know..." he muttered, voice getting slightly lost against his flesh.

"You know Naruto, Sasuke-kun..."

"I know..." He shook his head, closing his eyes.

"I'll go get us some coffee, alright?"

He just shrugged, allowing her to walk off. Sakura returned a few minutes later, a Styrofoam, large cup of hot coffee in each hand. She wasn't surprised to see Sasuke in the same position. Carefully, she sat back down next to him, holding out the black cup of the coffee. Hers was a bit lighter, because she'd put a bit of cream and sugar in hers. She knew Sasuke didn't like anything sweet in anything.

"Thanks," he muttered, taking it, though just staring down at it for a few minutes before draining some.

Hours went by of awkward silence, the two just sipping or finishing their coffees, eventually both being done and just sitting there still. A man came out, his white outfit a little bit bloodied. It'd turned from ten at night to nearly nine in the morning. Sakura had fallen asleep, but the other man's talking roused her.

"Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Yes?" Sasuke's head quickly looked up, eyes focused hard on the man.

"The blonde male, Uzumaki Naruto, is that his name?"

"Hai,"

"He requests to see you, but be quiet."

Sasuke stood up, quickly following the man, thanking Sakura again quietly as he was lead down the hall towards the room they were keeping Naruto in.

The door closing behind him, with only the two of them in the room, Sasuke pulled a chair next to his blonde friend's bed, staring at him. "Naruto–"

"I know," he muttered, staring up at the ceiling. "I was an idiot again, wasn't I?" His head tilted slightly, eyes focused on Sasuke.

"Only a little bit... How are you feeling?"

"Well..." He laughed a bit, though it was obviously a bit nervous. "I can't really move my body that much, but the doctor guy said I was just still numb... Says I'm lucky not to be in a coma..."

"You are,"

"I know," Naruto smiled, staring at him, before closing his eyes.

"How long did he say you'll have to be in here?"

"I can leave around lunch time today... I should be able to walk fine by then. Damn it... I didn't get to do that thing I had to do..." He cursed himself inwardly. "I'll have to do it when I get home. They want me to come in every day, though, to get my head checked out... Just remembered that."

"You're staying with me until they say you don't need to keep coming in for check-ups, then."

"Sasuke-kun, I have stuff to do..."

"This is more important," Sasuke pointed out, frowning at him.

"But..." Naruto started to complain, but the door opened, Sakura walking in. She sat down on the other side of Naruto. "Sakura-chan?"

"Hey, Naruto. Sorry if I interrupted. I told the doctor I'm a doctor, too, and he said I should come ask you a few things, that it'd be easier since I'm your friend, and all. You two don't mind, do you?"

"That's fine," Sasuke said, Naruto nodding his head to agree.

"Alright..." She pulled a pen from her back pocket, setting a clipboard on her lap. "What were you doing before you got hit?"

"I don't remember," Naruto said, shaking his head.

"He was walking home from my house." Sasuke said, watching Sakura. "He refused to stay the night."

"Alright," She scribbled something down. "What did the car look like? I'm sure Sasuke would remember more than you, though, Naruto."

"Yeah." Naruto nodded.

"It was a lot like mine with its hood up. Black, modern, very sleek... I don't know the make or brand or anything, though."

"Alright... Do you know who the driver was?"

"No," the two responded in unison.

"Naruto. How's your head?"

"Hurts,"

"Your arms?"

"Still numb,"

"Hungry?"

He grinned. "Always."

She smirked. "Let's get some breakfast then." She set down the clipboard, upside-down, and walked out the door with a "hold on".

She came back in with a wheelchair, and pulled the IV out of Naruto's arm, saying she'd gotten permission, and, with Sasuke's help, got him in the wheelchair. Sasuke agreed to push Naruto around, figuring he'd get a little bit of teasing in with it, though nothing too harsh.

The hospital was in a perfect location for Naruto to get to choose what he wanted for lunch. They ended up going to a small, family-owned ramen shop. Magically, almost, Naruto was able to move his arms by the time they brought their first order.

Naruto dug into his ramen, chopsticks held expertly in his hands, practically pouring the food down his throat. He ordered another, then another, while the other two were still on their first.

Sasuke just shrugged it off, while Sakura, secretly albeit, thought Naruto's eating habits were gross.

Naruto was halfway through his fourth bowl when he suddenly dropped the Styrofoam cup and chopsticks onto the table, his head falling over onto one of his arms, the other arm extended out.

Sasuke quickly stood up, shaking his friend, though there wasn't an answer. Sakura quickly inspected the blonde while Sasuke tried to rouse him, and she concluded he wasn't conscious.

-----------------------------------

Sakura was busy consulting with the female doctor, Tsunade–who, apparently, was a close friend of Sakura's–while the pink-haired girl scribbled things down and checked things off. Sasuke was seated next to Naruto, watching him, staring worriedly at the other's face. He felt like his heart skipped a vital beat when he heard Sakura mutter something to Tsunade, then Tsunade confirm it.

"He's probably in a coma then," the girl had whispered.

The woman responded with a simple, "Yes."

Sasuke's fists clenched, grabbing a bit of the sheets Naruto was laying on, leaning his head down and closing his eyes tightly, biting into his bottom lip. He tasted some blood on his tongue, so he quickly released the death-bite on his lip.

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke looked up to Sakura.

"You should probably go home now."

"No,"

"He might not wake up for awhile..."

"That's why I'm not waking up; so when he does, I'll be here..."

"Sasuke... It's not healthy."

"So?" he snapped, glaring at the female. "Why the hell would I care what's healthy and not healthy for me? That's nor you problem, Sakura; it's mine. Just leave me alone for awhile."

"Sasuke-kun..." She sighed, and turned, setting down the clipboard and walking out of the room, closing the door lightly behind her.

Sasuke watched her leave for a minute, then stared at the clipboard. Slowly, he picked it up, inspecting the things that were checked off. 'Coma' and 'Showing signs of life: No' was all he had to see before he threw it back down, growling and cussing mentally, cursing his own stupidity for letting Naruto have even gone out of his apartment.

"Naruto..." He sighed, laying his head down on the side of the bed. He suddenly stood up, though, walking over to the door, turning to face Naruto. "I'll find out who did this to you, okay? I'll kill them."

The only response he got from his unconscious, blonde friend, however, was the sound of the machine that displayed his heart beat, as he let the door close behind him.

-------------------------------------------

Notes. Whoo. Always.

-I don't care what you guys think of my hospitalizing Naruto. My fanfiction; my storyline.

Deal, 'kay?

Good.

Also, to one of my reviewers who said putting Sasuke in a dress would be wrong/gross:

Erm, but it's funny. So I might?

Whoo. But it won't be something too outlandish; maybe I'll have it in someone's dream... No clue yet.

Anyway, I probably won't be writing another chapter of this until I finish at least one more chapter for my Liaisons continuation (I already have one, but I do that one in sets of two or three because I have to email the chapters to Kyuubi to put on her own, too, plus her versions are beta-checked by herself.), and at least one more for Before I Die.

So, read my others. 'Cause they're all the SasuNaru we all love.

I don't care though.

I'd just like it. Makes me feel special.

'Kaybye.


	3. Don't Forget

A loud crash echoed throughout the entire apartment, the sound of a gunshot fading easily into the mess of noise. Soon, all fell completely silent in the room, where the only sound was that of blood dripping from the stained-over table's edge.

The beeping of the machine regulating the show of the young male's heartbeat was becoming annoying; it was redundant and slowly biting at the back of the ebony-haired head, through the ears hidden by the matted, sodden hair and into his brain.

"How come you passed out like that out of no where?" he asked, heaving a sigh, staring at his blonde friend–and he'd always used that term very loosely. "When we were getting lunch a couple weeks ago..." A light yawn couldn't be helped from Sasuke. "It makes... absolutely no sense. Because, one second you're there, all cheerful and eating and acting so energetic, and the next second you're passed out cold on the table with that stuff all over your face." His finger gently reached out, prodding the boy's cheek. His eyes were only half open and dark ringlets circled under his eyes; he'd had maybe one good night's sleep in the past two weeks ever since Naruto had gotten hit by the car. He still wasn't able to find out who did it.

"Damn it... Come on..." He sat up, staring at the blonde, before closing his eyes and leaning back, inspecting the room. He'd been in the hospital once before... He remembered getting a bunch of flowers and presents and Get-Well-Soon cards, balloons and all of that. Naruto... Sasuke had brought the stuffed, multi-tailed fox and set it near the window, and Sakura brought a small boquet of flowers by every other day. Kakashi, their old teacher from five years previous–in their High School third year, before Sasuke had moved out of town for his last two years–send Naruto a special card and a snack for the blonde when he woke up. But that was... pretty much about all.

"I said wake up..." he growled, though his voice was lost in his throat and no sound emerged past his closed, dry lips.

His head lowered, body sinking down once more to rest with crossed arms on the edge of the bed. Thoughts, ideas, and decisions were racing through his head.

_He might die... You have to find and kill whoever did this to him. You promised him... and you can't go back on that now, genius._

His head rose, eyes fixated on the blonde's expressionless, sleeping state. His left hand rose, again moving towards the cheek of the unconscious boy, tenderly pushing aside loose, blonde locks. He'd become quite pale–Naruto had; Sasuke had always been pale. However, Naruto's lack of a healthy, sun-kissed skin tone was rather frightening.

He stood from his seat as a light beeping sounded from his pocket. Pulling out his cell phone–and rather surprised that it was still charged enough to work–he flipped it open, holding the device to the side of his face.

"Hello?"

"Uzumaki."

"What? Who is this?"

"Haruna."

Sasuke's breath caught in his throat. "I demand you tell me who you are!"

"Uchiha."

"Who the _hell_ is this?"

"Thirteen is the pattern. There is an alphabet..." The voice was a cold, low hiss that easily sent shivers down the Uchiha's spine. "The recognition of personal fault..." A beeping sound clicked, and Sasuke could tell the person on the other end had hung up. He snapped his phone closed, glaring down at Naruto.

It wasn't hard to piece two and two together. The man–as it sounded like a masculine voice–was somehow connected to Naruto's injuries. He quickly flipped his phone open again, hitting the buttons required to navigate to his Received Calls list. The number was listed as 'unknown'.

Sasuke had to control his anger to be able to merely pocket his cell phone instead of throwing it across the room. As they had been for the past many hours, the onyx optics focused on Naruto.

There was a soft tapping at the door. With a "come in" from Sasuke, Tsunade pushed it open and closed it behind her. She leaned her back against it, eyes closed now.

"Unconscious still?"

"Yes,"

"There's a problem."

Sasuke glared at Tsunade, but not at her directly. He was angry at whatever the problem was, because, obviously, if it didn't involve him, she wouldn't have brought it up.

A light sigh escaped her pale-pink lips. "There's been another accident. Similar to that of Uzumaki. Exactly like his, really. The girl was hit, and after a short hour, she woke up, but fell unconscious into a coma right as we were trying to call you. But you were already on the line with someone else. Haruna Sakura's in a coma like Naruto's, now."

Sasuke remained dead-silent for a moment, staring at her. He could almost feel his body shake. He'd been on the phone... just as Sakura went into the coma? And he'd been talking to someone who knew about Naruto's injuries. And he was convinced already the man knew about Sakura's, as well.

"Who were you talking to?"

"I don't know." he stated, turning around in his chair to stare at Naruto, not allowing Tsunade to see either of their faces; Sasuke kept his chair beside where the blonde's head was.

An awkward moment of silence passed, with both of the two thinking to themselves.

"Tsunade?"

"Yes?"

"The man that talked to me said something very straight. He said, thirteen is the pattern, and there's an alphabet... Recognition of personal fault... Something like that."

She shrugged lightly. "I honestly am not sure. It could mean there's a pattern in the alphabet, following thirteen, or that thirteen is an age of something or someone, or that the alphabet has something to do with the actual location of their accidents... Recognition of personal fault... I don't know what that means." She shook her head. "I can have someone look into it for you?"

"Thanks," he muttered, crossing his arms on the side of the bed as he rested his forehead against his wrist.

"You need sleep, Uchiha. And food. And fresh air."

"The window's open, there's a coffee machine near the door, and I'll sleep when the person who did this to them... is dead." he decided, eyes only half open as they stared at the younger male's sleeping--no, not sleeping, almost... dead--face.

"That's not healthy." She shook her head. And, for the moment, Tsunade had chosen to ignore the last part of the last sentence the male had said. It was just very much like him to think in such a manner. She exited the room--and grabbed some coffee for herself while doing so, as well.

Sasuke's eyes, for another hour or so, were continuously rested on Naruto's closed ones, while his mind went through ideas. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. Maybe millions. Anything.

He reached over to the desk near the side of the bed, drawing a pen and a clipboard of blank paper from inside. With his back leaned against the bed, he set it down on his knees, the pen held in his left hand as he wrote down the alphabet quickly. It was all he honestly had. He wrote the number thirteen, and drew a box around it, in the corner.

What else had the man said?

He thought hard, then remembered the man had said Naruto's, Sakura's, and his own last names, in that order. They had all been friends since a young age--and... he honestly meant it when he thought the term 'friends'--but other than that, what did they have in common? Why them?

Five hours passed by, and it was midnight by the time he finally muttered something that sounded like 'fuck this'. He glared at the paper, which was doodled, written and drawn on all over. It and ten other papers nearby. On each he'd square-surrounded the number thirteen and wrote out the alphabet in the center of the page.

He drew up another sheet, writing the same thing he did on each of them. This time, he wrote out 'Uzumaki', then under it--under the alphabet--'Haruna', then 'Uchiha' under it. All he notice right away was 'UHU' pattern, but it was hardly significant.

Sasuke stared at the alphabet written up. Another five minutes of staring at it made him mutter another thing under his breath and cause him to groan aloud, leaning back and resting his head against the blonde's hand, which was at the boy's side. He opened one eye, staring at the fingers that hadn't moved for... forever. His right hand reached up, gently touching Naruto's, twining his fingers within the other's.

"Why don't you tell me, Naruto? Tell me this psychopath's reasoning. I don't know where he is, and too many cars match the description of what I remember. Voice is nothing to go on, because it sounded like he was using an electronic device to mask it... I can't make sense of this nonsense he's told me... and meanwhile, I'm trying yet being able to do nothing, while you and, now, Sakura, are just lying here... Dying..." His ebony eyes shut lightly, the pale lids hiding them well.

He sat up another few moments later. He had no ideas, but just laying with his head there and his hand in the blonde's wasn't helping anything at all.

His hand retracted, he stared at the paper. Sometime he'd written 'UHU' under the three last names. Glaring at the paper, he circled H and U, then underlined U to represent two uses of it.

A pattern? What pattern was there in the alphabet? And thirteen was the pattern.

It was a stupid idea, but hell, it might be right, so it was worth a shot, right?

He set his pen on 'U' and counted thirteen letters forward, going from Z to A when he reached number five and six. His pen stopped and rested inside the circle he drew around H. For a moment, his eyes remained there, and he began counting again. Thirteen letters from H, his pen rested inside the circle drawn around U.

Well, there was the pattern. It barely was a pattern, but it was there. And it was stupid. What the hell did the number thirteen have to do with absolutely everything? When he was thirteen, what had happened in his life? He tried to recall. It was quite a few years ago, after all.

His parents had died when he was thirteen. Along with other family members. His brother, Itachi, had been the one to murder them all.

Sasuke shook his head. No, Itachi was in prison on, maybe... five life-term sentences. With no chance of parole, either.

He scribbled his brother's name in the bottom corner and underlines it neatly regardless. He'd go to the prison in the morning... Just in case. He'd made sure Itachi was being a good prisoner. There was no need to--the guards were the best in the area--but, still. He'd started becoming paranoid about it. He had to make sure.

If asked, he'd say he just... wanted to make sure. Not that he needed to.

He set the clipboard down, the pen clicked close, on the desk, and sat down on the bed, staring at Naruto. Fatigue was causing his eyelids to become heavier. His finger gently traced over Naruto's forehead, pushing the blonde locks to the side. The boy had become so pale... and before, he'd been tanned. Sun-kissed from head to toe in a beautiful light bronze.

----------------------------------------

A light sound was rousing him from his sleep. A light whimpering sound, to be exact.

His onyx eyes were slow to open, but when they did, they met with painfully-squinted blue ones. He blinked lightly before the snapped open, and his arms pushed him from off the side of the bed, then realising he'd been half laying on Naruto in his sleep. He must have just... fallen asleep.

"Naruto?" he whispered, his voice light with the question. He reached out his hand , about to touch the boy's face that was enveloped in pain, but his hand went right through the other's flesh.

He pushed himself off the bed and looked around himself. Naruto was now laying on the grass, still staring up at him in a pleading way, and around them was all grassland enshrouded in darkness.

"Sasuke-kuuu," Naruto's frail, weak voice called out, his eyes opening slightly more as he pushed himself up, trying to grope around.

"I'm right here," he whipsered, kneeling down and trying to rest his hands on the other's shoulders, but his hands fell straight through. He pulled the digits up, staring with fear towards them. He was transluscent.

---------------------------------

His eyes slowly opened again as Naruto had begun to fade into nothing, only to show that he was back in the hospital and Naruto was back under him, and he was back on the other, and the blonde was still unconscious and unmoving.

He gently sat himself on the corner of the bed, shifting his weight very carefully, and traced a finger against Naruto's forehead, pushing blond locks to the side.

"Why won't you wake up?" he asked, frowning deeply, feeling his body shake. He felt his eyes squint, and his head duck slightly, and his breath catching in his throat. He heard and felt himself breathing through his teeth. "Why?" he asked, half yelling--if his voice could be called a yell at that time--and gently resting his hands on the boy's shoulders, shaking him tenderly. "Why!"

His eyes moved to the window, where pale sunlight was filtering through. It was morning. Wasn't he supposed to do something?

Yeah, that's right, he told himself. I have to go to the prison...

He pushed himself from the bed, finding his jacket nearby and sliding his thin arms through it and holding it close. He didn't stare back at Naruto as he left the room, not bothering to tell anyone that might have been there where he was going. They could ask if they wanted to know.

And a half hour later, he was waiting in a very short line until it was his turn.

"I'm here to visit my brother."

"His and your name?"

"He's Uchiha Itachi. I'm Sasuke."

The man at the desk looked up, then typed something away at his computer, flicked through a few papers, then shook his head, holding out a large slip of white paper with a few words in the center. "Uchiha Itachi doesn't reside here any more. He's escaped, or something. He just disappeared one night with no sign of anything at all."

Sasuke stared at the man, then stared towards the door. "Thanks," he muttered, stumbling towards the door. He'd chosen to walk there, since it wasn't that long a walk and he hadn't gotten too much exercise in awhile. He started in a run once outside.

Itachi wasn't here. Maybe it had been him. And he'd left both Sakura... and Naruto alone and unconscious in the hospital. And if Itachi was the cause of it...

Thoughts were racing through his head. How had Itachi escaped, and where had he gone? How long ago had it been? Why hadn't he asked? And why hadn't the police found him yet?

He was in such a fast run he didn't even notice that he was dodging in and out of traffic every now and then. He tripped once, a car nearly running into him, but he pulled himself up on the curve fast enough. He was delirious, and his vision was blurred. He continued his sprint, his heart racing and banging painfully in his chest, which was already really tight.

Sasuke could barely even tell if he was conscious or not. He didn't even notice when he felt a leg kick under his feet and his body dive downwards into a deep pool of water, the darkness of the deep roadside stream with its pollution and chemicals claiming his body.


End file.
